1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, for example, to a vehicle control apparatus such as a steering wheel.
2. Description of the Background Art
Among steering wheels that are operated to control steering units of vehicles such as automobiles, there is proposed a steering wheel in which no repositioning of the grips thereon is required when it is operated to steer a vehicle. In this steering wheel, the steering wheel is enabled to be oscillated in addition to rotating which is its normal operation mode, so that a steering angle can also be imparted by oscillating the steering wheel so as to reduce the rotating angle of the steering wheel when operated to rotate by such an extent that the steering angle is additionally imparted by the oscillation of the steering wheel, thereby making it possible to obviate the necessity of repositioning the grips on the steering wheel when operated to rotate to steer the vehicle (for example, see Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. JP-A-2000-52997).
However, while the aforesaid conventional technique is advantageous in that the load exerted on the driver while driving the vehicle is reduced by eliminating the necessity of repositioning the grips on the steering wheel, in a state in which the rotating angle of the steering wheel is reduced from the conventional one in which the steering wheel is rotated through on the order of three full rotations and no large oscillating angle can be secured, since a steering angle of the steering unit that results from an amount of a single operation of the steering wheel becomes large, there is caused a problem that lots of skill is required to cope with a minute control with the steering wheel so configured.